The Dewoitine D.430 was a three-engine, high-wing monoplane designed for

policing The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and other roles in

France's colonies The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existe ...

. It did not go into production.

Design

In 1930 the ''Direction Générale Technique'' issued a programme for an aircraft to operate in the French Colonies. It was to have three Lorraine 9N Algol engines, an all-metal structure and to be capable of reconnaissance, observation, policing and bombing as well as medical evacuations or general transport. The Dewoitine D.430 was one of nine prototypes built for this programme. It was an all-metal aircraft constructed and skinned largely from

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of '' Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...

. Its five-part

high wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

was straight-tapered to elliptical tips and had an aspect ratio of over 9, high for the time. It had a single spar at one third

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

which tapered uniformly in depth outwards along the span and was reinforced with

trellising. The leading edge formed a subsidiary box spar, and the trailing edge had dural tube ribs and formed a false spar for high-aspect-ratio ailerons, which occupied about half the span. The D.430's outer nine-cylinder Algol radial engines had long-chord NACA cowlings, and were mounted on bearings enclosed in long, streamlined nacelles; these were supported under the wings by four steel struts to the leading edge box spar and to the main spar. The central engine, under a similar cowling, was in the nose of the fuselage. The three-part fuselage was flat-sided and tapered only slightly towards the tail, proving a large interior which could be adapted to a variety of tasks. The pilots sat side by side in an enclosed

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

ahead of the leading edge, equipped with dual control. Behind, the cabin was long, wide and high. It could accommodate observation, reconnaissance or bombing equipment or hold two wounded on couches or four passengers. At the rear of the cabin there was a position for a dorsal machine gun on a flexible mounting. Access was through a port-side door under the wing; three square windows on each side lit the cabin. The D.430's tail was conventional, with a blunted triangular fin and a deep, round-edged unbalanced rudder. Its tapered tailplane was mounted on top of the fuselage, braced by two struts on each side to the lower fuselage, and carried narrow, full-span elevators. It had a fixed

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

with its main wheels on V-struts hinged from the lower fuselage and on vertical shock absorbing oleo struts to the engine mountings. The wheels were under large fairings; under the tail the D.430 had a long, leaf spring tail-skid.

Operational history

The D.430 was first flown on 2 October 1932 and by mid-December it was being officially tested at Villacoublay. The Colonial tri-motor contract was awarded to the Bloch MB.120, so no more D.430s were built. The prototype was initially registered as ''F-AKFN'' in the F-AK.. section reserved for French military prototypes but in September 1933 it was re-registered onto the commercial list, owned by the state, as ''F-AMRU''. It remained in use for several years; in 1934 it showed the flag in Belgium and took the Minister of Aviation to the French aerobatic contest in Algeria. A change of type to D.432 was recorded when its Algol engines were replaced with Hispano-Suiza 9Ts, (licence-built

Clerget 9C Clerget was the name given to a series of early rotary engine, rotary aircraft engine types of the World War I era that were designed by Pierre Clerget. Manufactured in France by Clerget-Blin and in Great Britain by Gwynnes Limited they were used ...

diesel radial engines), in 1937. It was destroyed in a non-fatal crash on 2 June 1938 when both the wing engines failed together.

Variants

;D.430: As described. One only, ''F-AKFN'' then ''F-AMRU''. ;D.432: D.430 ''F-AMRU'' re-engined with Hispano-Suiza 9T radials in 1937.

Specifications

References

{{Dewoitine aircraft 1930s French military aircraft D.430 Trimotors Aircraft first flown in 1932 High-wing aircraft